


Mysteries of Wind and Light

by SecondStarfall (beantiger)



Series: The Second Starfall Stories [41]
Category: Original Work
Genre: 1800s-era Tech, Aunts & Uncles, Cults, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Style, Family Member Death, Fantasy, Flash Fic, Gen, Grief/Mourning, LGBTQ Character, Lesbian Character, Microfic, Original Character(s), Originally Posted Elsewhere, Protective Older Brothers, Refugees, Self-Exile, Sibling Love, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beantiger/pseuds/SecondStarfall
Summary: He had loved his sister, his wind and light.***A grieving silversmith does not remotely understand his witchy niece.
Series: The Second Starfall Stories [41]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582975
Kudos: 5





	Mysteries of Wind and Light

**Author's Note:**

> This is a version of the original Twitterfic, same title, posted over at my now-deactivated personal account in March 2020. It has been given minor edits for consistency with other stories and readability on AO3. ❤️
> 
>  **SUGGESTED REREADING:** Here's a tale about [Taaron Miphariin's](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Taaron%20Miphariin*s*the%20Witch/works) uncle. Reading any of her stories with Kirra should give you enough context. ["The Pain Of Second Starfall"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22149151) will provide some insight on Kaamin mythology.
> 
> ✨ [[see the full SecStar timeline](https://secondstarfall.com/index.php/Official_Timeline) | [check out the SecStar wiki](https://secondstarfall.com/)] ✨

Even after forty years of life, the silversmith Fariin Miphariin did not understand much.

He did not, for example, know why his old country still held onto the fear that the great and cataclysmic Second Starfall would arrive within the century. Exasperated, he’d left Kaamin two decades previous precisely because of that fear. Among his childhood companions, talk of Starfall had become so passionate that it seemed they gleefully awaited it.

Fariin could not fathom that kind of horror. And so he went into exile as soon as he hit the Kaaminan age of majority. So did—thank goodness!—his little sister Zaraar.

For as long as he could remember, he had been the tree, dumb and solid, and she the leaves, a windy little thing of hope and light. Yet she refused to accompany him on his travels. Fariin let it be.

Then arrived the second great mystery of his life: Zaraar placing her daughter in his care five years after she and Fariin had gone their separate ways.

He had been twenty-four then. Stewed in exhaustion, he had only recently adjusted to his new trade as a silversmith on the border of the Brightest Sovereignty. The constable, Fariin remembered, placed an infant in his arms and apologized to him about Zaraar.

 _We would rather the girl live with a woman relative, but it doesn't seem like there is one, is there?_ said the constable, on the way out the door.

Fariin had loved his sister, his wind and light.

So Taaron, his niece, grew. And her unearthly lavender hair grew, and the folk in Kar Tor, where he finally settled, said that Taaron was a witch. Like the women the Kar Torians called the Grand Ladies, who lived leagues away in a house that ate men, and ruled over every witch in the world and every mortal in the Sovereignty. 

That made little sense to him at the time. He took Taaron as his apprentice in the silversmith trade.

Taaron: the third mystery. Fariin did not dislike her—she had his little sister’s uneasy smile and unfailing patience. He would ensure she had food and shelter and a life that would not horrify her future grandchildren, as he would have done for Zaraar. Yet she was not his sister. Fariin didn’t think Taaron even liked him much. She had little talent for smithing, and that hair…

He listened in on the local gossip, and crafted a circlet that he knew would, eventually, become one of his masterworks. Fariin decided he would send it and Taaron to the Brightest Manor, where these so-called Grand Ladies lived. If indeed Taaron was a witch, they would know where Taaron’s true talent lie, and the circlet would pay for any travel, any room and board. And Taaron would have women in her life—the most important thing, it seemed, in this strange Sovereignty culture.

One day, however, he discovered after returning from a trip that the circlet had disappeared from its glass case within his bedroom. Taaron explained that she had given it away.

Fariin looked within himself and found not rage but utter confusion. He decided he would not fall into a fourth mystery. Upon his questioning, though, his niece only stammered, “I had to—do—something—about…” but did not finish. 

He'd never told her about his plan with the circlet. Yet she must have known. Zaraar had that same way—that same witchy way. Suddenly, understanding swept over him.

“You want to stay, don’t you, Taaron? Despite everything, you want to stay,” Fariin said, and the words must have struck her like a hammer upon an anvil, because the girl’s eyes widened. As she stumbled into terrible, wretched sobs, he fetched her cup of morning tea. 

“Uncle,” she cried, gritting her teeth, “Uncle, no, no, that’s…”

But he had already opened the parlor window behind her, and the autumn winds enveloped her words.

**Author's Note:**

> Please be sure to leave a comment or a kudos or bookmark the piece if you enjoyed it! ❤️
> 
> ✨ [[see the full SecStar timeline](https://secondstarfall.com/index.php/Official_Timeline) | [check out the SecStar wiki](https://secondstarfall.com/)] ✨
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY:** One of my main rules in SecStar is to always explore the villains, the outliers, the caretakers, the missing figures in each character's life. Uncle Fariin is kind-of all of these at once for Taaron, yet I wanted to show that he's not, really, a bad guy. At least, IMO. 
> 
> In terms of backstory this is about all I have to say regarding Uncle Fariin, I think, but he still has much to do in Taaron's narrative.


End file.
